From the time the Ambassador Hotel opened on New Years’ Day, 1921 it was more than a hotel, it was a destination. Set amidst 21 acres of landscaped grounds, with its own tennis courts, golf course, restaurants, movie theater, post office, beauty salon, barber, shops and shoeshine stands, it was like a small city on its own. Its nightclub, The Cocoanut Grove, opened a few months after the hotel and Los Angeles and Hollywood society had been enjoying palmy nights there ever since.

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Main dining room. CSL

I. Magnin was one of several upscale shops in the Ambassador. 10-5-1926

Separate from the hotel, the private “bungalows,” located right off the covered walkways, were in reality mini-mansions. CSL

The golf course. The Cocoanut Grove was housed in the building with the awnings. LAPL

The Ambassador’s swimming pool and changing rooms. The Ambassador Auditorium is just beyond. CSL.

In September 1926, the Ambassador’s outdoor plunge hosted a swimming carnival starring visiting Olympic swimmers Ethel McGary, Agnes Geraghty, and Helen Meany. 9-4-1926.

The Cocoanut Grove’s palm trees supposedly came from the set of Rudolph Valentino’s movie The Sheik.

9-29-1926

October 1, 1926: the Coconut Grove welcomed home recording artist and house bandleader Abe Lyman from an extended tour in the east.

November 1926

To celebrate Armistice Night, November 11, 1926 film director Cecil B. De Mille and Colburn’s Furs sponsored a fashion review at the Grove. Colburn’s had a shop downtown and at the Ambassador.